What are the components of a glacier?

Glaciers are dynamic, and several elements contribute to glacier formation and growth. Snow falls in the accumulation area, usually the part of the glacier with the highest elevation, adding to the glacier's mass. As the snow slowly accumulates and turns to ice, and the glacier increases in weight, the weight begins to deform the ice, forcing the glacier to flow downhill. Further down the glacier, usually at a lower altitude, is the ablation area, where most of the melting and evaporation occur. Between these two areas a balance is reached, where snowfall equals snowmelt, and the glacier is in equilibrium. Whenever this equilibrium is disturbed, either by increased snowfall or by excessive melting, the glacier either advances or retreats at more than its normal pace.

Several visible features are common to most glaciers. At locations where a glacier flows rapidly, friction creates giant cracks called crevasse, which may make travel across a glacier treacherous. Other common glacial features are moraine, created when the glacier pushes or carries rocky debris as it moves. These long, dark bands of debris are visible on top and along the edges of glaciers. Medial moraines run down the middle of a glacier, lateral moraines along the sides, and terminal moraines are found at the terminus, or snout, of a glacier. Sometimes one glacier flows into another, creating combined wider moraines. Often these linear deposits of rocks are left behind, almost intact, after the ice in a glacier has melted away. Studying these rocky debris remnants, and the sediments that were once beneath the glacier, is the subject of glacial geology and geomorphology.

See Also

NSIDC Glacier Photograph Collection - NSIDC archives a Glacier Photograph Collection of historical photos, which includes both aerial and terrestrial photos for the 1880s to 1975. The photos are primarily of Alaskan glaciers, but coverage also includes the Pacific Northwest and Europe.